


hoodie still smells of the beach bonfire

by thewolvescalledmehome



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Jonsa Summer Challenge, Minor Arya Stark/Gendry Waters, Secret Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 14:19:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11488134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewolvescalledmehome/pseuds/thewolvescalledmehome
Summary: Theon throws an impromptu reunion beach party when everyone from their friend group is back in town. Arya warns Jon that if he doesn't tell Sansa tonight, she'll do it for him, and she'll do it too.For Day 4 of the Jonsa S7 Summer Challenge: Summer Nights or Hazy Days (Summer Nights)





	hoodie still smells of the beach bonfire

Jon was going to kill Theon.

Theon had told Jon it would just be the group of friends from high school, after all this was meant to be a reunion of sorts. It was the first time they would all be back in town for the first time since the oldest of them graduated. Jon had thought, had hoped, that had meant the older Starks and the two of them, but given the number of people on the beach Jon realized Theon had meant Robb’s and Sansa’s group of friends, not Jon’s.

Seeing the group was almost enough to not get out of his truck, to turn back around and keep his reunions to only the Starks and Theon. Robb and Theon would come looking for him though, if Arya didn’t first.

Jon was just drudging up the courage to get out when his passenger door opened and someone dropped in. If it had been almost anyone else, he would’ve told them to get the hell out of his truck, but it was Arya, and he was glad for it.

“How long were you planning on sitting here before joining the party?”

“Not long,” he lied. Arya would see through it, but he didn’t care. She wouldn’t call him on it.

“It looks worse than it is.” Jon didn’t believe that, but if Arya didn’t mind it, he probably wouldn’t either. She didn’t run with the same crowd as Robb and Sansa either. She had her handful of friends and that was it. Jon was sure they were somewhere in the crowd. Theon would never force Arya to spend an evening with the likes of the Tyrells and Lannisters without having a few of her own there, and he’d never not invite her, fearing the wrath of the older two Starks.

“Who is there to avoid?” The face Arya made told him he could find out for himself, but it softened and she took pity on him. Neither of them had really been a part of the popular crowd, tolerated only due to Robb and Sansa. He thought he escaped all of that when he graduated, never considering Theon would throw reunion parties.

“None of the Lannisters are here if that’s what you’re asking.” Of course she understood exactly what he meant; she always had. “Stick with me and Gendry. You’ll be fine.” Jon sighed. He didn’t really want to spend the evening as a third wheel, no matter how much he loved Arya. “I’ve got a bottle of Jack in my car.” He grinned at her.

“Fine.”

 

* * *

 

There were enough people that Jon was able to bunker down with Arya, Gendry, and the poor boy that had yet to escape the nickname Hot Pie. They claimed a spot closer to the beach than the fire, passing the bottle among them and retelling old stories from high school. Arya was right: with them he was fine. It was when he would be inevitably found by Robb or Theon and pulled into the thick of it that he would wish he had stayed in his truck.

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t too much later when Robb and Theon came running down to where they were half hidden, spraying them with sand.

“Watch it,” Arya yelled, dodging most of it.

“Saw your truck. Figured you must be around here somewhere,” Robb commented.

“Come join the party.” Theon was starting to grasp at him, no doubt to forcibly move him to the party.

“Arya won’t mind, will you?” Robb ruffled his little sister’s hair, and she jerked her head away, glaring daggers.

“And what if I did mind?”

“C’mon, Arya. You should join in too,” Robb skirted her question.

“I’m fine here, thanks. We’ll be here when you manage to escape,” she told Jon gravely. Robb and Theon hauled him away then, a cup of something being pressed into his hand.

 

* * *

 

It was louder closer to the fire. There was music playing, people yelling and laughing and dancing. Jon didn’t dance, so he sat on one of the logs closer to the fire, slightly out of the way. This seemed close enough to joining the party, as Theon and Robb abandoned him soon after he was pushed into the throng. They never understood his aversion of large crowds, of people. He would have been perfectly content to sit out of the range of the fire with Arya until the sun broke over the water, but as the best friends of Robb, and Theon by association, it wouldn’t be allowed.

He should be finding the people he used to be friends with, catching up with them after not seeing each other for six years, but the people he cared to catch up with he’d never lost contact with. He knew what Robb and Theon have been doing, and he and Arya talked every day by some platform or another. The only one he’d like to catch up with was the one that was a never technically friend.

She was there; he could, if he had the courage. He knew exactly where she was, sitting on one of the other logs, talking with some people from high school, red hair catching in the firelight. She was beautiful. She had been in high school, but this was a different type of beauty. In high school she was that glossy type, much like her best friend, the Tyrell girl. Now she had the steely beauty of someone who’s gone through the seven hells and came out the other side all the stronger for it. The Sansa he used to know would have been with Tyrell girl dancing with Robb, Jeyne, and the rest of the popular crowd. She would be smiling, shouting out the lyrics, jumping and bouncing and generally being carefree.

That was not the woman across from him. In the few days he’d been back, he realized it took more to make her smile now, than it had the last time he’d seen her, but the smile was twice as beautiful for it. Jon wished he’d been around when she was going through everything, but he wasn’t and all he had to go on was the before and afters to guess what she’d gone through.

Jon couldn’t bring himself to move to the other side of the fire, to ask her how’d she’s been.

They hadn’t been that close in high school, not the way he was with Arya or Robb. Their conversations were typically focused on their mutual friends, on classes, and on the rare occasion, she’d give him advice on girls. He dated occasionally and when he didn’t trust the advice of Robb or Theon, he went to her. While he harbored a crush on her for the later half of high school, he knew better than to act on it. He doubted Robb would consider him family if Jon suddenly confessed his love for his best friend’s sister.

 

 

* * *

 

“Having fun yet?” Arya asked, appearing next to him. Jon made a face in response. Arya laughed and he turned back to the fire. Arya followed his line of sight to the other side of the fire. “Haven’t talked to her yet?” Jon shook his head and Arya sighed.

Arya was the only one who knew, despite the fact that he feared her reaction more than Robb’s. He was scared that she would be hurt and angry, think that he would choose Sansa over her, and for some reason that scared him more than the worst reaction he could image from Robb. She only knew though, because she figured it out. She saw the way he looked at her, the way he smiled at her and put two and two together. It took her a while to get used to the idea and now that she had she kept pushing Jon to do something about his feelings for her. She said she liked the idea of him being officially part of the family and ignored anything he said about the awkwardness that could happen if it didn’t go that way.

“You should go talk to her.” She was nudging him, literally pushing him towards her sister.

“About what? The only things we talked about in high school were classes and how stupid I am with girls.”

“Good, lead with that.”

“I am not starting a conversation with her by asking her advice on how to ask her out.”

“Fine. Don’t listen to me. But Seven save me, Jon, it’s been eight years. If you don’t say anything to her tonight, I’ll tell her myself.”

“You wouldn’t.” The look on her face said _fucking try me_. Jon looked back over at Sansa, slightly irritated to realize that the friend she was talking to had left and Sansa was now alone. “All right. Fine.” Jon pulled the bottle from Arya’s hands and took a large swallow, wincing only slightly at the burn. With confidence he did not have, Jon made his way to the other log.

“Jon. I didn’t realize you’d come.” She scooted over to give him enough space.

“I was over with Arya and Gendry down by the water, until Robb and Theon found me.”

“Ah. Been forced to join the fray, then?” They shared the briefest of half smiles before Sansa bumped his shoulder with hers. “Can I tell you a secret?” Jon’s heart launched into his throat, forcing him to nod rather than respond with words. “I didn’t want to come. I was sitting in my car, debating whether to come down or not. Theon made me come down. Said not showing up and having everyone make assumptions would be worse than everyone asking if I was all right.”

“Arya did the same for me, though her bribery was a bottle of Jack.”

“I’ll have to tell Theon to up his game. That would’ve gotten me out of my car faster. Not Jack though. Nice bottle of vodka would’ve.”

“Took some convincing?”

“Oh, you have no idea.” She took a sip from her cup, and for a minute Jon thought that was the extent of their interaction. He glanced across the fire to see Arya watching them intently. When their eyes met, she flashed a questioning thumbs up. He shook his head and she scowled. She mimed tapping a non-existent watch. Sansa sighed next to him, and he turned back to her.

“This isn’t really my scene anymore.”

“This has never been my scene.” Sansa let out something like a laugh at that. The sound made Jon smile. She finished her drink and tossed the can into the nearby recycling bin, allowing herself a small smirk when she made it.

“Wanna get out of here?” Jon choked on the drink he’d just taken. “Not far. Just away from everyone.” Jon nodded and offered a hand to pull her up. He was sure Arya watched as they made their way up the beach, toward the parking lot. He was sure others were too—probably wondering at why Sansa Stark was leaving a party so early, why she was leaving without saying goodbye, why she was leaving with him.

They came upon his truck first, and Sansa ran her hand lightly over the faded black paint, following it to the tailgate.

“This’ll work.” Jon opened the gate and climbed in, bending to help her up after. His truck bed was thankfully empty aside from tarps and blankets. He arranged them so they wouldn’t have to sit on the metal bed. Once he had everything situated, Sansa lied back, looking up at the stars. After a moment of hesitation, Jon joined her.

“This is much better,” she muttered. The music was so quiet they could only hear the beat, and the voices turned into a dull roar.

They were quiet for a moment. Jon was terrified that she could hear his heart pounding in his chest. He was alone with her, in his truck bed, looking at the stars. He thought that it could have been the perfect moment to admit that he’s been in love with her for the past eight years, if only he had the guts to do it. He almost thought it might be easier to have Arya do it, spare him the awkward stammering of vocalizing it. He’d never said it out loud, even to Arya. She’d said it and he just didn’t disagree.

Jon stilled when he felt her shift, rolling onto her side to look at him.

“So, Jon Snow,” her voice was mockingly serious, as if she was pretending to interview him. “Are there any girls you need advice about?” _Yeah. You_. “Oh!” He rolled his head to look at her, and saw her face alight with a cheeriness he hadn’t seen earlier. “Whatever happened with that redhead?” His heart stopped. “She had an interesting name… I don’t know that I can pronounce it.” He had to take a slow breath before answering.

“Ygritte.”

“Yes! Whatever happened with her?”

That had been one of their few points of contact after they left high school that excluded the holidays. He’d met someone in college, and without Robb and Theon as wingmen, he had no idea how to talk to her. He texted the only person he could think of—Sansa.

“We dated for a while. We broke up not long after graduation. We couldn’t do the long distance thing.”

“Ah. That’s too bad. No one new?” _No, someone old._ He shrugged.

“What about you? …Have you tried dating at all, since…?” He phrased his question carefully, hoping to not break whatever this was between them.

“I’ve been on dates, but nothing’s come of them. It’s just… so much harder now. Every time I meet someone new I always just think, _wouldn’t this be so much easier if we could skip the first few months and get past the awkward part_? It’d be much easier if we already knew each other.” Jon daren’t read into what she was saying. Plenty of people held that opinion. It didn’t mean anything.

“No one here sparks your interest? You already know them.” The words were out of his mouth before he could realize just what he was saying. She was quiet next to him, blue eyes studying his.

“What are you asking, Jon?” she posed, the question leaving her mouth slowly. He opened his mouth only to close it again.

“Nothing.” Everything in him railed against him at saying that.

“No?” Something in both her tone and face shifted, not cooling towards him, but he didn’t have the nerve to put a name to what he thought it was. Her face recovered, and she was suddenly propping herself up on her elbow. “Jon, if you’ve got something to say…” He sat up, moving away from her, leaning against the side of the bed. She sat as well, mirroring his position. He could tell by the look on her face that his moving away told her that whatever he wanted to say, he wouldn’t be saying it.

They were trapped in an impasse, both refusing to speak. Jon knew he should be the first one to, to admit what he was actually asking, but every way he phrased it in his head sounded so stupid.

Jon couldn’t tell how much time had lapsed—it was dark and all the songs sounded the same. There was no way to tell the passing of time.

“I suppose I should get back,” she muttered at least. He nodded, and when he said nothing, she stood, jumping down from the truck. He banged his head against truck, hating himself for refusing to take such an opportunity.

Then he was jumping down from the truck, calling after her. She hadn’t made it yet to the other end of her truck and when she turned, a his breath stopped. They crashed into each other, fingers in hair, arms braced against backs, lips finally meeting.

 

* * *

 

Jon woke up sore as hell, body aching. If it weren’t for that, he would’ve thought he was still dreaming, because Sansa was still asleep under his arm. They were covered in early morning dew and the sky was grey with the first of the dawn. That wasn’t what woke him though, nor was it the pains of his body. His phone was vibrating in his pocket, making enough racket that he was impressed it hadn’t woken Sansa. There were dozens of texts, from Robb and Theon, asking where he’d gone, if he knew where Sansa disappeared to, but a majority were from Arya, and they varied from threats to congratulations. He rolled his eyes, turning his phone on silent, and pulled Sansa closer.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration was drawn from the 2008 movie Keith. It's fantastic if you haven't seen it.


End file.
